


Lost and Found

by HalfASlug



Category: Broadchurch
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-03-06
Packaged: 2018-09-28 16:52:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10140242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HalfASlug/pseuds/HalfASlug
Summary: Hardy is back in Broadchurch. This time Daisy is with him and it's only a matter of time before the locals realise. Set pre-S3.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was written before s3e2 and is just my guess about why the Hardys might be in Broadchurch.

It was difficult to talk to someone on the phone while trying to keep the conversation private from another person in the same room. Fortunately, through his work, Hardy had plenty of practise. As he hung up, he realised there was no way he could have kept the identity of the caller secret, however. **  
**

“That was her, wasn’t it?” Daisy did look away from the TV as she spoke.

Hardy dropped his phone onto the desk and sighed. “If you mean your mother-”

“Nah, the tooth fairy. How’s business?”

“Darling-”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“Can you at least just text her?”

A muscle popped in Daisy’s jaw. For a moment, Hardy expected her to explode as he’d seen a handful of times since the night she had shown up crying on his doorstep in the middle of the night.

Years of deceit from both of her parents over one of the biggest events in her life had left Daisy constantly on edge and furious. Hardy couldn’t blame her. He’d admitted everything that night, everything she had gradually pieced together from the snippets she had read and heard. His apologies were met with Daisy’s. She had eventually fallen asleep on the sofa like the child she had stopped being when Hardy hadn’t been watching and he went into the next room so she wouldn’t be woken up by his tears.

Tess had tried to deny it all. Daisy hadn’t spoken to her since.

“I’ve got revision to do,” Daisy announced and turned the TV off in the middle of a show.

“Daisy-”

“Leave it, Dad!”

He heard her bedroom door slam and rubbed his tired eyes. It had been nearly two months and he was still scared one wrong move would have her shutting him out again. At the same time, he knew the pain Tess was going through and hated not being able to do anything to stop it.

In his darker moments, he wondered how hard she had tried to get Daisy to call him when their positions had been switched. The thought was dismissed immediately every time. He couldn’t and wouldn’t sink to that level. No matter how ugly things got between him and Tess, he would never use Daisy to deliberately hurt her.

In fact, even now, he would never deliberately hurt her at all. When all was said and done, she was the mother of his child and he had loved her.

For once, Hardy had little paperwork to do so he turned his attention to the project that had been eating up all of his spare time recently: unpacking. Moving had been more stressful than previous times, mainly because his meagre possessions were joined by everything Daisy had ever owned. At times it felt like every cardboard box in the south west had found its way into his living room. Looking around now, however, Hardy saw the house was starting to look like a home.

There were only a couple of small boxes still stacked in the corner and they finally had all their furniture. Daisy had came home the day before with a throw for the sofa and a small rug. He hadn’t even been able name a shop in Broadchurch that sold such items. As well as this, there were the small touches that made the place looked lived in, like post left on the side table and muddy shoes by the door.

His room was the only one that still could have been mistaken for a hotel. He wasn’t sure if it was because Daisy was better at decorating than he was or if he was simply used to moving every couple of years and didn’t see much point in making himself to comfortable. It was most likely a mixture of both.

Hardy turned on one of the many lamps and eyed up the remaining boxes. He had no idea why Daisy owned so many, let alone why she had brought them all to Broadchurch, but they kept her happy and it was nice to see reminders that she was a permanent fixture in his life once more.

He was about to lift the lid on a box worryingly labeled ‘miscellaneous’ when there was a knock on the door.

Through the glass doors, he was surprised to see Ellie Miller, a vision of orange, wild hair and a beaming smile, waving at him.

It took a moment to remember how to move his legs before he opened the door.

“How do you know where I live?” he asked, doing his best to block her view.

“This is Broadchurch,” she scoffed. “It was on the front cover of the Echo.”

She moved to come in but Hardy blocked her. “Seriously.”

“People remember you and they talk,” she impatiently told him. “And if they didn’t, I could just ask strangers if they’d seen a grumpy Scottish bastard around.”

Before he could respond, he heard a voice call him from in the house.

“Is someone here? Or are you talking to yourself?”

“Don’t worry, darling,” he shouted over his shoulder. “Just someone from work.”

Hardy stepped back, leaving the door open. He was in the middle of his living room before he noticed Miller hadn’t followed him. She looked at him uncertainly and adjusted the strap of her bag.

“I didn’t… You brought someone back with you?”

It was so typical of Miller to go out of her way to interrupt his evening and then dawdle on his front step. He sighed, hoping she’d get to her point and ignored the rush of affection he felt. Being with Daisy had been what he needed but he had found he missed Miller more than he ever expected to.

Miller gestured behind her. “I should probably… Don’t want to spoil the mood or anything.”

Hardy realised what she was thinking and hurried back to the door. “It’s not - it’s Daisy.”

“Daisy?”

“My daught-”

“I remember,” Miller bristled. “Daisy’s here?”

“Aye.”

“Just for today or...”

“Full time.”

There was a moment where she simply stared at him that Hardy wondering if she didn’t believe him but then a smile slowly formed on her face.

“Daisy’s here.”

“Daisy’s here,” he confirmed. Just saying the words made the corners of his mouth twitch but he tried to suppress it. Ellie, on the other hand, made no such attempt and was beaming at him. She stepped into the room and Hardy was worried she might try and hug him but she stopped a safe distance away.

With all the drama he had left behind in Sandbrook, Hardy had started getting used to having Daisy around. It was only when he saw Miller’s reaction that he remembered just how far their relationship had come. His daughter was precious and he vowed to never forget that again.

Miller stopped smiling and looked at him seriously. “Tess does know, right? You didn’t just take her?”

“Shut up.”

The cheeky glint in her eye let him know she wasn’t going to but he was saved by the door opening behind him and Daisy coming into the room. She stared at the two adults, paying no particular attention to the stranger, and pointed towards the kitchen.

“Just getting a drink.”

Miller wasted no time and went straight into her Broadchurch welcoming commitee routine. “Hi! I’m Ellie.”

“Right.” Daisy glanced at him as if to confirm there was indeed a woman waving at her in her own living room. “Hi.”

She left the room and Hardy exhaled for the first time since she’d walked in. Something told him the sunshine personality of Ellie Miller would clash horribly with the dark cloud currently surrounding his daughter. The last thing he needed was Daisy and the closest person he had to a friend hating each other.

If Miller sensed any animosity from Daisy, she didn’t let on. “She seems nice.”

“She is. She’s just...”

“Your daughter?” She smiled knowingly.

“Apparently.”

“I’d better go. I just wanted to drop this off.” She held up a tie that Hardy recognised as his own. “Found it in the car park. Wasn’t sure if you owned more than one.”

Hardy took it from her. “Bollocks. You wanted to be nosy. Show off that you found out where I live.”

Her cheeks turned a shade of pink. “A little bit.”

Daisy reentered the room with a glass of orange juice.

“How’s the revision going?” Hardy asked.

Already halfway across the room, Daisy shrugged. “Great.”

“Think you’ll be done for six?”

“Should be.”

“I’ll have dinner done for then.”

“Cool.” Daisy left without another word.

“Look at you,” Miller said with a grin. “Being a dad.”

He rolled his eyes. “Thanks for the patronising.”

“No, I mean it. It’s nice. I’m glad.” She gave him one of her softer smiles and Hardy forgot he was meant to be annoyed with her. She never pried into his personal life but from the moment she found out about Daisy’s existence he knew she genuinely empathised with him. Seeing her pride reminded him once again how far he had come.

He wanted to thank her for being by his side but not hounding him and for just being who she was, but the words wouldn’t come.

“Well,” was all he managed but Miller nodded like she understood. He hoped she did.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah. See you, Miller.” He held up the tie. “Thanks for bringing this back.”

“No worries.”

Hardy watched her close the door behind her and was gripped by the crazy notion that he should ask her to stay for dinner. Thankfully, before he could act so impulsively, he heard Daisy speak from behind him.

“So that’s Miller?” she asked with just her head poking around the corner.

Hardy nodded.

“Huh.”

“How’d you know her surname?”

“I’ve heard her mentioned before.”

“By…”

“You. Mum.”

Hardy tried to work out what he could have said about Miller and what Tess could possibly have said about her. He assumed he’d dropped her name whilst talking about work. Tess on the other hand… He was sure the two women had got along. They had worked together even when he wasn’t around and he’d never heard either say a bad word about the other.

Daisy brought him out of his musings. “She seems all right.”

Coming from Daisy, this was high praise and Hardy wondered what, in such a short meeting, Miller had done to earn it. To him, however, there was no doubt she had earned it. Miller was a brilliant officer, a loyal friend and, just occasionally, the bane of his existence. She was all he could ever ask for in a DS.

“She is,” Hardy agreed, once again comparing her to last woman who had been his DS and his everything else with it. He pushed the thought away, knowing as he had for a long time now, which one fell short.


End file.
